RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – May 31, 2011
TODAY: Magnitsky prosecutor off the hook; Khodorkovsy appeals, appears on state TV; comments on Moscow’s thwarted gay pride parade; Georgian journalists detained; G8 misunderstandings; tennis posters removed; police chiefs lose jobs over reforms; Orthodox Church goes after abortion.
The Prosecutor General has ruled that Oleg Silchenko, the official who refused to release Sergei Magnitsky from pretrial detention or transfer him to a hospital, has done nothing wrong. Activists say that the ruling is a whitewash. Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s appearance on state-owned NTV in a ‘seemingly unbiased report‘ about his decision to apply for parole is prompting observers to speculate over a softening of the official position on his imprisonment. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Khodorkovsky’s rights were violated following his 2003 arrest, and has ordered Russia to pay damages. The Secretary General of the Council of Europe has expressed regret over the clashes seen at Moscow’s attempted gay rights march over the weekend. The Equality Network comments on the six-year-long Moscow effort to hold a gay pride march. Two Georgian journalists have been detained in Moscow for working without accreditation.